Analysts Stocks

      Daily Update - April 24, 2023

      Selected stock price target highlights of the day:

      By: Matthew Otto

       

      A few stocks that have reported their earnings on Friday carry this morning attention from Wall Street.

       

      Autoliv

      Had reported on Friday weaker-than-expected growth in its Q1 core earnings, with adjusted operating profit coming in at $131 million, below the median forecast of $135 million in a Refinitiv poll of analysts.

       

      A 17% increase in net sales for Q1 2023, with organic sales up by 21% compared to the same period last year. The company’s operating margin was 5.1%, in line with its indication, and adjusted operating income increased from $68 million to $131 million, with an adjusted operating margin of 5.3%.

       

      The company’s CEO, Mikael Bratt, said he was still confident in being able to meet its mid-term target of an adjusted operating margin of 12% in 2024.

       

      Wall Street Action

       

      • Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan maintains an Equal-Weight rating but lowered his price target from $94 to $93.
      • Baird analyst Luke Junk also keeps a Neutral rating and lowered his price target from $101 to $99.
      • Citigroup analyst Itay Michaeli also maintains a Neutral rating but lowered his price target from $97 to $93.
      • Goldman Sachs analyst Philipp Konig retains a Buy rating but drops the price target from $114 to $113.
      • Barclays analyst Dan Levy maintains an Equal-Weight rating and lowered the price target from $100 to $95.
      • Deutsche Bank analyst Emmanuel Rosner has Autoliv with a Buy rating yet lowers his price target from $113 to $110.

       

      PPG Industries 

       

      Reported earnings of $1.82 per share for the first quarter of 2023, which is higher than the earnings of $1.37 per share that the company reported for the same period a year earlier. The earnings were also higher than analysts’ estimate of $1.54 per share according to data from Refinitiv.

       

      The reopening of the Chinese economy has boosted demand for coatings used in aerospace and automotive original equipment manufacturers.

      The company’s net sales in the performance coatings segment rose 2% to $2.63 billion, while the industrial coatings segment also saw net sales rise by about 1% to $1.75 billion.

       

      PPG Industries expects sales volumes to be close to per-pandemic levels in the second quarter of this year, and forecasts full-year 2023 earnings between $6.95 per share and $7.25 per share, higher than analysts’ estimates.

       

      Wall Street Action

       

      • Deutsche Bank analyst David Begleiter retains a Buy rating and elevates the price target from $160 to $165.
      • RBC Capital analyst Arun Viswanathan upholds a Sector Perform rating and lifts the price target from $143 to $145.
      • Wells Fargo analyst Michael Sison maintains an Equal-Weight rating and boosts the price target to $150.
      • Morgan Stanley analyst Vincent Andrews preserves an Equal-Weight rating and raises the price target from $140 to $143.
      • Baird analyst Ghansham Panjabi keeps an Outperform rating and raises the price target from $150 to $160.
      • Mizuho analyst Christopher Parkinson holds a Buy rating and raises the price target from $151 to $152.
      • Barclays analyst Michael Leithead sustains an Equal-Weight rating and increases the price target to $150.
      • JP Morgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas upgrades PPG Industries Inc from Neutral to Overweight and heightens the price target from $130 to $156.
      • Keybanc analyst Aleksey Yefremov maintains an Overweight rating and elevates the price target from $162 to $169.

      As you can see in the snapshot below all the analysts have upgraded their stock forecasts on PPG including more pessimistic views such as of analyst Michael Sison of Wells Fargo.

      Citi cools down on First Solar

      • Citigroup analyst Vikram Bagri downgraded First Solar from Neutral to Sell and lowered the price target on the stock from $220 to $194.

      The downgrade was based on the expectation of a global excess supply of polysilicon and photovoltaic modules, which is likely to push down prices and limit First Solar’s ability to contract volumes beyond 2026 at attractive prices.

      Daniel Ives is bullish on AI

      The analyst was quoted saying that we can expect updates about Microsoft’s AI ambitions as the company battles with Alphabet’s Google and others in this space. Ives estimates that AI will be an $800 billion market opportunity over the next decade, and the competition in the enterprise and consumer tech space is similar to a “Game of Thrones”. As such, Microsoft is likely to continue investing in AI technology to remain competitive in the market.

      Microsoft will be reporting its earnings tomorrow.

      Wall Street Action

       

      • Exane BNP Paribas analyst Stefan Slowinski downgrades Microsoft from Outperform to Neutral.
      • Bernstein analyst Mark Moerdler maintains Microsoft with an Outperform rating and raises the price target from $280 to $322.
      • Raymond James analyst Andrew Marok has reiterated an Outperform rating and a price target of $310

       

      As you can see in the snapshot below Ives had consistent success with his bullish stock forecasts on Microsoft.

      Invitations

      • Truist Securities analyst Junaid Siddiqui initiates coverage on CyberArk Software with a Buy rating and announces Price Target of $185.
      • Tigress Financial analyst Silvan Tuerkcan maintains Monday.Com with a Buy and raises the price target from $200 to $210. Tuerkcan took over after analyst Ivan Feinseth who failed to forecast the stock delline from $400 to $110 in the last two years.

      Above is a snapshot of the top daily stock price target moves on AnaChart